Notice of Privacy Practices

North Ohio Heart / Ohio Medical Group

THIS NOTICE DESCRIBES HOW MEDICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOU MAY BE USED AND DISCLOSED AND HOW YOU CAN GET ACCESS TO THIS INFORMATION. PLEASE REVIEW THIS NOTICE CAREFULLY.

The terms of this Notice of Privacy Practices (the "Notice") apply to North Ohio Heart/Ohio Medical Group (collectively "NOH") operating as a clinically integrated health care arrangement composed of the physicians, clinicians, and other licensed professionals treating patients in these practices. The members of this clinically integrated health care arrangement work and practice at the following NOH locations: Avon, Bellevue, Cleveland, Elyria, Independence, Lorain, Medina, Middleburg Heights, Norwalk, Olmsted Falls, Rocky River, Sandusky, Westlake.

All of the entities and persons listed will share medical health information (referred to as Protected Health Information or “PHI”) of patients as necessary to carry out treatment, payment, and health care operations as permitted by law.

NOH is required by law to maintain the privacy of its patients' PHI and to provide patients with notice of NOH's legal duties and privacy practices with respect to your PHI. NOH is required to abide by the terms of this Notice so long as it remains in effect. NOH reserves the right to change the terms of this Notice as necessary and to make the new Notice effective for all PHI maintained by NOH. You may receive a copy of any revised Notice at the above listed locations or a copy may be obtained by mailing a request to Compliance, North Ohio Heart/Ohio Medical Group, 1220 Moore Road Suite B, Avon, Ohio 44011 or by accessing our corporate website at www.partnersforyourhealth.com.

Uses and Disclosures of Your Personal Health Information

Your Authorization. Except as outlined below, NOH will not use or disclose your PHI for any purpose unless you have signed a form authorizing the use or disclosure. You have the right to revoke that consent or authorization in writing, unless NOH has taken any action in reliance on the consent or authorization.

Uses and Disclosures for Treatment. NOH will make uses and disclosures of your PHI as necessary for your treatment. For instance, doctors and nurses and other professionals involved in your care will use information in your medical record and information that you provide about your symptoms and reactions to plan a course of treatment for you that may include procedures, medications, tests, etc. NOH may also release your PHI to another health care facility or professional who is not affiliated with NOH's practice but who is or will be providing treatment to you. For instance, if, after you leave the office, you are going to receive hospital care, NOH may release your PHI to that hospital so that a plan of care can be prepared for you.

Uses and Disclosures for Payment. NOH will make uses and disclosures of your PHI as necessary for payment purposes of those health professionals and facilities that have treated you or provided services to you. For instance, NOH may forward information regarding your medical procedures and treatment to your insurance company to arrange payment for the services provided to you or NOH may use your information to prepare a bill to send to you or to the person responsible for your payment.

Uses and Disclosures for Health Care Operations. NOH will use and disclose your PHI as necessary, and as permitted by law, for NOH's health care operations which include clinical improvement, professional peer review, business management, etc. For instance, NOH may use and disclose your PHI for purposes of improving clinical treatment and patient care. NOH may also disclose your PHI to another health care facility, health care professional, or health plan for such things as quality assurance and case management, but only if that facility, professional, or plan also has or had a patient relationship with you.

Family and Friends Involved In Your Care. With your approval, NOH may from time to time disclose your PHI to designated family, friends, and others who are involved in your care or in payment of your care in order to facilitate that person's involvement in caring for you or paying for your care. If you are unavailable, incapacitated, or facing an emergency medical situation, and NOH determines that a limited disclosure may be in your best interest, NOH may share limited PHI with such individuals without your approval. NOH may also disclose limited PHI to a public or private entity that is authorized to assist in disaster relief efforts in order for that entity to locate a family member or other persons that may be involved in some aspect of caring for you.

Business Associates. Certain aspects and components of NOH's services are performed through contracts with outside persons or organizations, such as auditing, accreditation, legal services, etc. At times, it may be necessary for NOH to provide certain of your PHI to one or more of these outside persons or organizations who assist NOH with its health care operations. In all cases, NOH requires these business associates to appropriately safeguard the privacy of your information. For instance, NOH may disclose your PHI to a business associate to administer claims or to provide support services, but only after the business associate enters into a business associate agreement with NOH.

Appointments and Services. NOH may contact you to provide appointment reminders or test results. You have the right to request and NOH will attempt to accommodate reasonable requests by you to receive communications regarding your PHI from NOH by alternative means or at alternative locations. For instance, if you wish appointment reminders to not be left on voice mail or sent to a particular address, NOH will attempt to accommodate reasonable requests. You may request such confidential communication in writing and may send your request to Compliance, North Ohio Heart/Ohio Medical Group, 1220 Moore Road Suite B, Avon, Ohio 44011. Each request will be reviewed and you will be notified within sixty (60) days if your request will be honored.

Health Products and Services. NOH may from time to time use your PHI to communicate with you about health products and services necessary for your treatment, to advise you of new products and services NOH offers, and to provide general health and wellness information.

Research. In limited circumstances, NOH may use and disclose your PHI for purposes that are preparatory to research. For example, a researcher may wish to compare outcomes of all patients that received a particular drug and will need to review a series of medical records. Your PHI may be reviewed by North Ohio Research, Ltd., to determine if you are eligible to participate in a clinical trial. North Ohio Research, Ltd. assists NOH in conducting clinical trials. In all cases where your PHI is disclosed to North Ohio Research, Ltd. for purposes that are preparatory to research, your privacy will be protected by strict confidentiality requirements applied by an Institutional Review Board or privacy board which oversees the research or by representations of the researchers that limit their use and disclosure of patient information, including the removal of all individual identifiers.

Other Uses and Disclosures. NOH may be permitted or required by law to make certain other uses and disclosures of your PHI without your consent or authorization.

NOH may release your PHI for any purpose required by law;

NOH may release your PHI when necessary to prevent a serious threat to your health and safety, or the health and safety of the public or another person, such as use in a proceeding regarding the licensure of a physician;

NOH may release your PHI for public health activities, such as required reporting of disease, injury, disability and birth and death, and for required public health investigations;

NOH may release your PHI as required by law if we suspect child abuse or neglect; NOH may also release your personal health information as required by law if NOH believes you to be a victim of abuse, neglect, or domestic violence;

NOH may release your PHI to the Food and Drug Administration if necessary to report adverse events, product defects, or to participate in product recalls;

NOH may release your PHI to your employer when NOH has provided health care to you at the request of your employer; in most cases you will receive notice that information is disclosed to your employer;

NOH may release your PHI if required by law to a government oversight agency conducting audits, investigations, or civil or criminal proceedings;

NOH may release your PHI if required to do so by a court or administrative order, subpoena or discovery request; in most cases you will have notice of such release;

NOH may release your PHI to law enforcement officials as required by law and to report wounds and injuries and crimes;

NOH may release your PHI to correctional institutions or law enforcement officials if you are an inmate or in custody if necessary (1) for the institution to provide you with healthcare; (2) to protect your health and safety or the health and safety of others; or (3) for the safety of the correctional institution.

Your Rights

Access to Your Personal Health Information. You have the right to copy and/or inspect the PHI that NOH retains on your behalf. All requests for access must be made in writing and signed by you or your legal representative. You may obtain an access request form from any NOH location as contained within this Notice. If you request a copy of the PHI that NOH retains on your behalf, NOH may charge you a fee for the costs of copying, mailing, or other costs associated with your request. NOH may deny your request to inspect and copy in certain very limited circumstances. If you are denied access to your PHI that NOH retains on your behalf, you may request that the denial be reviewed.

Amendments to Your Personal Health Information. If you believe that the PHI that NOH maintains on your behalf is incorrect or incomplete, you have the right to request in writing that PHI be amended or corrected. NOH is not obligated to make all requested amendments but will give each request careful consideration. All amendment requests, in order to be considered by NOH, must be in writing, signed by you or your legal representative, and must state the reasons for the amendment/correction request. If an amendment or correction you request is made, NOH may also notify its business associates in possession of your PHI of the need to amend or correct such PHI if NOH believes that such notification is necessary. You may obtain an amendment request form from Compliance, North Ohio Heart/Ohio Medical Group, 1220 Moore Road Suite B, Avon, Ohio 44011.

Accounting for Disclosures of Your Personal Health Information. You have the right to receive an accounting of certain disclosures made by NOH of your PHI after April 14, 2003. Requests must be made in writing, state a time period which may not be larger than six (6) years and may not include dates prior to April 14, 2003, and signed by you or your legal representative. Accounting request forms are available from Compliance, North Ohio Heart/Ohio Medical Group, 1220 Moore Road Suite B, Avon, Ohio 44011. The first request within a twelve (12) month period will be free. For additional requests, NOH may charge you for the cost of providing the accounting. NOH will notify you of the costs involved and you may choose to withdraw or modify your request at that time before any costs are incurred.

Restrictions on Use and Disclosure of Your Personal Health Information. You have the right to request restrictions of NOH's uses and disclosures of your PHI for treatment, payment, or health care operations. Please send your written request for restrictions and include in writing your specific request along with your full name, address, and date of birth, to Compliance, North Ohio Heart/Ohio Medical Group, 1220 Moore Road Suite B, Avon, Ohio 44011. NOH is not required to agree to your restriction request but will attempt to accommodate reasonable requests when appropriate and NOH retains the right to terminate an agreed-to restriction if NOH believes such termination is appropriate. In the event of a termination by NOH, you will be notified. You also have the right to terminate, in writing or orally, any agreed-to restriction by sending such termination notice to Compliance, North Ohio Heart/Ohio Medical Group, 1220 Moore Road Suite B, Avon, Ohio 44011.

Right to be Notified of a Breach. You have the right to be notified in the event that NOH (or a business associate) discovers a breach of unsecured PHI.

Complaints. If you believe your privacy rights have been violated, you can file a complaint with Compliance, North Ohio Heart/Ohio Medical Group, 1220 Moore Road Suite B, Avon, Ohio 44011. You may also file a complaint with the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C. in writing within one hundred eighty (180) days of a violation of your rights. There will be no retaliation for filing a complaint.

Right to a Paper Copy. You have a right to a paper copy of this Notice. You may ask NOH to give you a paper copy of this Notice at any time. Even if you have agreed to receive this Notice electronically, you are still entitled to a paper copy of this Notice. To obtain a paper copy of this Notice, please provide a written request to Compliance, North Ohio Heart/Ohio Medical Group, 1220 Moore Road Suite B, Avon, Ohio 44011.

Acknowledgment of Receipt of Notice. You will be asked to sign an acknowledgment form that you received this Notice.

E-mail Usage:

NOH collects and uses your e-mail address to deliver the services you have requested. NOH may also use your personally identifiable information to inform you of other services available from NOH. You will always have the option to unsubscribe from other e-mail updates. NOH does not sell, rent or lease its customer lists to third parties.

Security of your Personal Information

No method of safeguarding information is 100% secure. NOH uses a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. NOH secures the personally identifiable information you provide on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. When sensitive personal information is collected on our site and/or transmitted to other websites, it is protected through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol.

To Unsubscribe From NOH

You may unsubscribe from NOH marketing communications by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link located on the bottom of the company’s emails. Additionally, you may unsubscribe by e-mailing info@nohc.com or calling NOH Compliance at (440) 414-9099.

For Further Information

If you have questions or need further assistance regarding this Notice, you may contact:

Effective Date

This Notice is effective April 14, 2003. This Notice was last updated August 30, 2012.

Terms and Conditions of Use Agreement

Welcome to the North Ohio Heart/Ohio Medical Group (collectively, "NOH") website. Access to, and use of, the information contained on this website is subject to the terms and conditions listed in this Terms and Conditions of Use Agreement (the "Agreement"). Please read and review carefully these terms and conditions which govern your use of this website. Your use of this website signifies your binding consent to all such terms and conditions.

NOH reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify this Agreement and to make changes or updates to this website at any time and without notice to you. Please refer to this Agreement on a frequent basis so that you understand it terms and conditions currently in effect. Your continued use of this website following any modifications, changes or updates to this Agreement signifies your acceptance of any revised terms and conditions.

Copyright

All materials on this site, and the files associated with it, are copyrighted by North Ohio Heart/Ohio Medical Group or by the original creator of that material. It is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America and under treaties with other nations. Unless otherwise stated, no material on this site is in the public domain. You may not download, copy, reproduce, republish, display, post or transmit material on this site unless expressly permitted by NOH. NOH in no way represents or warrants that your use of materials displayed on this website does not infringe the rights of third parties.

Specific Disclaimer Concerning Medical Information

Information and materials provided on this website are for informational purposes only. This website is not a substitute for medical advice and should not be used for treating a disease or other health problem. All medical information presented should be discussed with your medical professional. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider prior to making any treatment or other medical decisions.

Links

This website may be linked to other websites that are not maintained by NOH and which may have different terms and conditions of use. NOH has not reviewed all of the websites linked to this website. NOH is not responsible for and makes no representations regarding the content of any off-site pages or any other websites linked to this website. The inclusion of any link to such websites does not imply endorsement or affiliation of those sites with NOH.

Restrictions on Use

Unless specifically stated otherwise, all information and material on this website is made available only for the purpose of providing information about NOH and general health related matters. Information and material from this website are only to be used for lawful purposes. Information and material from this website and any other website owned, operated, licensed or controlled by NOH may not be copied or distributed, or republished, uploaded, posted or transmitted in any way, without the prior written consent of NOH.

Any content and/or opinions expressed on this website are solely the opinions and responsibility of the person or entity named as the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of NOH. You also understand and acknowledge that you are responsible for the content of any message that you post to this website.

You agree that you will not include in your message any content that is unlawful, defamatory, libelous, obscene, invasive of the privacy of another person, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful, ethnically, racially or otherwise offensive or illegal or that infringes any intellectual property right of a third party. You further agree that you will not misrepresent an affiliation with any person or organization. You agree that you will not include in your message, files or links to other websites or content that you are under a contractual obligation to keep private.

NOH reserves the right to monitor any and all messages sent to this website and to refuse to post any message that NOH, in its sole discretion, views to be in violation of this Agreement or otherwise inappropriate. NOH also reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to revoke the use privileges of any user who violates this Agreement.

Disclaimer

YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT USE OF THIS WEBSITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. UNLESS OTHERWISE PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THIS WEBSITE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. NO ORAL OR WRITTEN INFORMATION OR ADVICE GIVEN BY NOH SHALL CREATE A WARRANTY AND YOU MAY NOT RELY ON ANY SUCH INFORMATION OR ADVICE. FURTHER, NOH DOES NOT WARRANT, GUARANTEE, OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE, OR THE RESULTS OF USE, OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED ON THIS WEBSITE IN TERMS OF CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, CURRENTNESS, OR OTHERWISE. THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU TO THE EXTENT THAT APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES.

Limitations of Liability

NEITHER NOH NOR ANY OTHER INDIVIDUAL OR ENTITY INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION OR DELIVERY OF THE INFORMATION ON THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE INFORMATION ON THIS WEBSITE, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER NOH HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Termination

NOH reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate your access to all, or any part, of this website at any time and without notice. NOH, in its sole discretion, may also discontinue operating this website and terminate this Agreement at any time and without notice for any reason.

No Waiver

The failure of NOH to enforce any terms and conditions of this Agreement or to respond to any breach by you or other parties shall not in any way be deemed a waiver of NOH's right to enforce any terms or conditions of this Agreement.

Governing Law and Venue

By using this website, you agree that the laws of the State of Ohio, without regards to principles of conflict of laws, will govern this Agreement and any dispute that may arise between you and NOH. Further, you expressly agree that exclusive jurisdiction for any and all disputes resides in the State Courts of Lorain County, Ohio.

Severability

All provisions of this Agreement are severable and neither this Agreement nor any provision hereof shall be affected by the invalidity, inapplicability or unenforceability of any other provisions of this Agreement.